Parasound Amp Question
PrazVT
Posts: 1,607
So I'm sitting here watching TV and was browsing randomly on Audio Advisor - so came across my amp and was reading the manual. Found some interesting things in it and wanted to get some clarity on them from you guys.
Recall that I use the Parasound amp for my RTi A7s
1 - High Pass Filter setting (currently set to flat)
"The 20 Hz switch position filters out frequencies below 20 Hz. Your speakers have greater dynamic range and far less distortion when they dont receive frequencies which are lower than they can reproduce. Likewise, the 2250 operates more efficiently when its not called upon to amplify frequencies which the speakers cant reproduce. Because the 20 Hz filter has a steep 18 dB per octave slope, it is essentially a sub-sonic filter, and you probably wont notice any loss of bass unless youre using very large speakers."
Question - any performance improvement if I set it to 20Hz (as I don't think the A7s go that low)?
2 - Impedance setting (2-3 ohms vs 4-8 ohms) (currently set to 4-8)
"For a single pair of 4 ohm or 8 ohm speakers the Load Impedance switch may be set to its 4-8 Ohms position. The Load Impedance Switch must be set to 2-3 ohms whenever the load will be lower than 4 ohms. Speaker loads below 4 ohms impedance can cause the Model 2250 to overheat rapidly and cause audible distortion. These are examples that require the 2-3 ohms setting.
1. Driving two pairs of speakers whose impedances you dont know.
2. Driving two pairs of speakers with impedances that are lower than 8 ohms. Two pairs of 4 ohm speakers driven simultaneously are a 2 ohm load.
3. Driving a single 4 ohm speaker bridged to mono. This is a 2 ohm load.
4. Driving two 8 ohm speakers bridged to mono. This is a 2 ohm load.
Note: For the coolest possible operating temperature we recommend setting the Load Impedance switch to 2-3 ohms even if you are using a single pair of 8 ohm speakers."
This one I'm curious about as well. I read one customer review of this amp where they were using 8 ohm speakers and changed the setting from 4-8 after a few months to 2-3 ohms. But they didn't say why. Then the manual suggests it as well - what's up with that?!
Hmmm I think that's it. Humor me
I'm curious.
Recall that I use the Parasound amp for my RTi A7s
1 - High Pass Filter setting (currently set to flat)
"The 20 Hz switch position filters out frequencies below 20 Hz. Your speakers have greater dynamic range and far less distortion when they dont receive frequencies which are lower than they can reproduce. Likewise, the 2250 operates more efficiently when its not called upon to amplify frequencies which the speakers cant reproduce. Because the 20 Hz filter has a steep 18 dB per octave slope, it is essentially a sub-sonic filter, and you probably wont notice any loss of bass unless youre using very large speakers."
Question - any performance improvement if I set it to 20Hz (as I don't think the A7s go that low)?
2 - Impedance setting (2-3 ohms vs 4-8 ohms) (currently set to 4-8)
"For a single pair of 4 ohm or 8 ohm speakers the Load Impedance switch may be set to its 4-8 Ohms position. The Load Impedance Switch must be set to 2-3 ohms whenever the load will be lower than 4 ohms. Speaker loads below 4 ohms impedance can cause the Model 2250 to overheat rapidly and cause audible distortion. These are examples that require the 2-3 ohms setting.
1. Driving two pairs of speakers whose impedances you dont know.
2. Driving two pairs of speakers with impedances that are lower than 8 ohms. Two pairs of 4 ohm speakers driven simultaneously are a 2 ohm load.
3. Driving a single 4 ohm speaker bridged to mono. This is a 2 ohm load.
4. Driving two 8 ohm speakers bridged to mono. This is a 2 ohm load.
Note: For the coolest possible operating temperature we recommend setting the Load Impedance switch to 2-3 ohms even if you are using a single pair of 8 ohm speakers."
This one I'm curious about as well. I read one customer review of this amp where they were using 8 ohm speakers and changed the setting from 4-8 after a few months to 2-3 ohms. But they didn't say why. Then the manual suggests it as well - what's up with that?!
Hmmm I think that's it. Humor me
I'm curious. Dali Optikon 1Mk2
NAD D3020 V2
Schiit Bifrost 2/64
..the rest are headphone setups.
NAD D3020 V2
Schiit Bifrost 2/64
..the rest are headphone setups.
Post edited by PrazVT on
Comments
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The 20hz high pass filter would allow you a few more clean decibels of output from your A7's only if the content contained information below 20hz.ie movie sound tracks,or rumble from a turntable.
With the switch set to the 2-3 ohm setting the rail voltages to the output stage will be reduced.Thus less heat will be created by the output transistors that the heatsinks will need to disipate.But the penalty will be reduced peak power output. -
Ahh thanks for clearing up the first one - I could see the benefit with that being on perhaps.
As for the second one, I guess if your amp is running hot it'll help. Thankfully mine runs pretty cool.
Interesting!Dali Optikon 1Mk2
NAD D3020 V2
Schiit Bifrost 2/64
..the rest are headphone setups. -
I fixed it for you.Lower heat in general contributes to long term reliability and life span as excessive heat is the enemy of electronic parts.I guess if your amp isn't running hot it'll help.. -
What I meant was if said amp was running hot, you could change the impedance setting down to 2-3 and reduce the amount of heat requiring dissipation - thus it'll help.
So we're both right!
Otherwise I agree w/ the heat bit. My other hobby for the last 15 years has been computers - and heat is always an issue there. I've got a liquid cooled Core i7 machine running at 4.2 GHz - when it's encoding HD video at full tilt, helps alot
Dali Optikon 1Mk2
NAD D3020 V2
Schiit Bifrost 2/64
..the rest are headphone setups. -
Ahhh ,sorry I misinterpreted.:redface:What I meant was if said amp was running hot, you could change the impedance setting down to 2-3 and reduce the amount of heat requiring dissipation - thus it'll help.
So we're both right!
